Sunday, November 29, 2015

The three murdered by the Colorado Springs Shooter are: UCCS police officer Garrett Swasey, 44, Jennifer Markovsky, 36, and Ke’Arre Stewart, 29. They were not in the Planned Parenthood clinic in question. None of the clinic's employees or patients were injured by the shooter.

There is almost a gruesome symmetry to the varied identities of these three individuals: a white man, an Asian woman, and a black man, respectively. All leave spouses and children behind.

The symmetry is that, while we the living, continue to drive wedges wider among ourselves, these young people seem to have lived very normal lives before having them end so abruptly. As for the shooter, he did not know that Swasey was a pro-life pastor, or that Stewart was an Iraq War veteran or that Markovsky was a military spouse. This dude didn’t care about their genders, their outer coatings, or their diverse opinions. (Markovsky had been accompanying a friend to the Planned Parenthood clinic.)

The three fallen almost present a snapshot of America--of humanity. And that’s what the shooter seemed to target, without, of course, knowing it. It’s almost as if a hidden spiritual hand guided the shooter's hands and his projectiles, not to mention his mind—an evil hand.

The owner of that hand has demonstrated many patterns, one of which is that he tends to destroy from within. This applies to individuals as well as to nations. Shootings like that in Colorado Springs, like those in Chicago, and like all of the countless others are “mere” results of that handiwork. That the normalization of Planned Parenthood's main reason for being is also one of these results requires the adjective “mere” within the context of my topic.

Our true enemy wants all of us dead. And, no, I’m not referring to Muslims here or even to the president when calling out this adversary; the enemy wants them dead, too.

Our ultimate enemy roams the earth seeking those who can be devoured by him. When we who are Christian remember that—especially with respect to our individual selves—we are able to speak the truth in love and to act accordingly. Fear of any sort is not an option.

Grieve for the families of these people, but stick to your principles--and keep sticking it to the enemy.

Last night, like most news junkies, I paid close attention to the story of the siege in Colorado Springs, now over. Robert Dear, after murdering three people--including a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs police officer--and injuring many others, holed up in a local Planned Parenthood clinic for a few hours, then surrendered without further incident. None of the murdered or injured were inside the clinic.

During the siege, the propaganda was massive, especially on Twitter. Most of it was pro-Planned Parenthood, anti-conservative, and anti-Christian. But, as of this morning, there are still no reports on Dear’s motive(s)—if there was one. (Some people do evil simply for evil’s sake.) There has been little about the perpetrator’s political views and nothing about his religion.

Nevertheless, pro-abortion observers (not pro-choice, pro-abortion) have excoriated Christians and conservatives over this man’s crimes. And if it turns out that this man considers himself a Christian and/or a conservative, any of us who actually adhere to the principles of either or both will repudiate this man’s actions and most will do so by pointing to the objective standards which define the two philosophies. Short version: if you stuff yourself in an oven and call yourself a biscuit, it doesn’t mean that you really are one.

But you know what? It won’t matter for those who believe in moral relativism—or those who wish that both Christians and conservatives would just shut up and keep trying to find a reason to shame us into doing so.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

FUNDRAISER UPDATE: There have been no new donations since the weekend. See end of this post.Great health. The women in my family seem to peak in their late 50s to late 60s, so I'm still on the ascent!I won't be doing any cooking tomorrow because there is no stove in my apartment. I'm getting a free stove--and refrigerator--from Am Vets; it arrives on Friday, so I can stop buying expensive, ready-made food and resume cooking. It has been a year since I've cooked.New opportunities! (I'll tell you later).Good friends, of which I have a great many.Peace--while we still have it. It might be a matter of days only.God's protection.What about you?FUNDRAISER UPDATE: The goal is $1500 in sales and donations by November 30.As of today at 1:00 PM PT, there have been three donations of $135.00 and one sale for $10.99, totaling to $145.99. Thank you!

Please contribute to Juliette’s Projects: Kenya Trip, A Roof Over My Head, my Storage Facility, my new novel, this blog, and my Internet--to keep them going and to the COFFEE fund to keep me going!

Just a reminder. There have been no new donations since the weekend. See end of this post.

Here's something many don't know about me: I am a big fan of natural cures. It's recent development--last five years--and it was born of my aversion to prescription medications and of the desire to save money. (Admittedly, I appear to have inherited good health from my parents, and, therefore, have this luxury.)

When I lived in homeless housing, I was one of the few persons who took no prescribed medications. (That has changed; my doctor prescribed Vitamin D, of which dark-skinned persons are often deficient.) Most residents took BP meds at minimum. I was one of the even fewer who didn't self-medicate.

I've had good results from natural cures for the most part: lavender oil for insect bite relief and apple

cider vinegar for blood pressure regulation, pain relief and weight loss. And, though none of my blood relatives has diabetes, my doctor said that my bloodwork indicated than I am as far away from being diabetic as one can get! DNA plus ACV, I bet.

But here's one you need to watch out for: eating garlic on an empty stomach. Oh, it helps all the things listed which are applicable to me, but it also does this one thing.

It makes it feel as though an xenomorph is about to burst forth from my small intestine.

So if you want to understand why reading is difficult, it's because the commissars who took over the field of education changed the game. They moved the goalposts, oh, about a mile. They changed the very nature of the activity from something that is as basic as walking, which everyone can do, to a much more elaborate activity, much like dancing in a Broadway show, which very few can do.

That's a quick and quite accurate description of the biggest education story of the last century. It is not the complete story. The other major part of the story is the aiding and abetting that have kept this swindle in play. Millions of professors, principals, administrators, and teachers have promoted and protected this destructive con. And still do. Imagine being an accomplice in something that makes people suffer throughout their lives.

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned;

What is mischief? Well, the Quran gives several examples of mischief. Verse 16:88 says rejecting Allah is spreading mischief. Unbelief causes mischief according to verse 8:73 and verse 38:28. Jews, by their very existence according to Quran verse 5:64, cause mischief. So, according to the Quran, rejecting Allah is cause enough to punish non-Muslims.

Yet the character’s righteous indignation comes off as particularly strange given that she hasn’t exactly been a beacon of morality. She has affairs with students; she decapitated her husband; and she framed her husband’s mistress for the murder. But hey, at least she’s not an originalist.

"Don’t do stupid shit" was a synonym for "I'm not going to get trapped in a Vietnam". However Rothkopf observed that the most important Red Line in Obama's world could be crossed the other way around. You could get into Vietnam by backing into it. The administration's greatest weakness was failing to realize that inaction was also policy. Not doing something could also be "stupid shit" and passivity was no protection from landing ass backwards in a quagmire.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Fourteen centuries ago, the majority of sub-Saharan African tribes failed to unite against the onslaught of Islam and that is the reason that the continent has been in perpetual disarray for subsequent centuries. The Islamic conquerors did what they usually do: murder and castrate the men and boys, rape the women--and enslave. A thousand-plus years of that...

Conversely, Western Europe thrived because its tribes withstood, for the most part, the attempted incursions of the Ottoman Empire and other Islamic entities--even as the European tribes continuously went to war among themselves. They had a strong banner under which to unite.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

My Sunday morning online destinations always include The Sunday Morning Book Thread at Ace of Spades HQ, conducted by Oregon Muse. Between the post and the comments, I usually end up with 5-8 more books on my various wishlists.

While talking with others online about books, I was surprised to find out that many whom I considered tech-savvy, did not know that they could access e-books and audiobooks from local public libraries using a cellphone. Well, you can. I discovered audiobooks a few years ago; I played them on the car speakers and, now, I listen to them as I ride the bus/train, which definitely makes any commute less annoying.

The LA Public Library uses Overdrive for its electronic offerings. Obviously, there's an app. And if you must buy a Kindle offering--like mine--you don't need to own a Kindle to read it; just download the Kindle app to your iPhone, Android, whatever.

Oregon Muse often provides helpful book acquisition tips for those of us who cannot afford to buy all the books we want. Here's one:

I...wanted to point out a very handy tool for the reading Moron on a budget. EreaderIQ is a free service that lets you sign up for price watches on particular books, or a particular author. Was *very* handy last week when a huge swath of Georgette Heyer went on sale for $1.99 apiece (vs. 9.99, sheesh!). It has other clever options for freebies and suchlike, but the author/book watch is the one I use the most.

[C]alling someone a 'racist' has nothing to do with what someone actually believes, but one's position in an artificial political war. This fight is not about crime and punishment, it's not even about the law. It's a tawdry catfight over bourgeois privileges between bourgeois actors who desperately seek to inherit the imprimatur of Civil Rights struggle. My ass.

I don’t need to tell you that this isn’t the type of behavior that we condone here at TAH and I doubt if any of you would act like this. But, it is strange that the website “Popular Military” are the folks most responsible for the dissemination of this story, because they’re the folks most responsible for this kind of confrontation. They post videos over there of any kind of so-called Stolen Valor confrontation. They encourage that behavior – you know, even though there are no veterans on the staff at Popular Military – they bought the website from a group of veterans. But, chasing a homeless guy into traffic because he’s wearing ACU trousers isn’t really stolen valor enforcement. Popular Military will publish any video that is sent to them with total disregard for content. That’s why I didn’t link them in this article.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Originally posted on August 7, 2009 at my old blog, hence the contemporaneous references. I had to change/remove some of the links due to deadness.

…is the Billy-club labeled ‘racist.’ By using it to hit an ideological opponent, the wielder of this blunt instrument never has to provide a substantive defense of his/her position.

And because many black Americans and other minorities have been well-indoctrinated with the notion that any occasion during which they do not get their way is due to the...ahem...tinge of racism, many such persons are all too ready to beat the Other over the head with it. Don't believe me? Ask people like my brother-in-law, Mark--the archetypal White Cop of all your racial nightmares. He constantly receives the blows of this cudgel, all while refraining from mentioning how much it would surprise his wife and children to know how much he hates black people. (I'm surprised that Mark's second-born—the family comedian--hasn't whipped out the race card in jest at his dad. He’ll get around to it.)

I would say that those who hurl the racism epithet toward criticsof President Obama don’t expect the charge to make sense. Sense isn’t necessary due to the fact that the racist label has become such an effective destroyer of careers and reputations in the last thirty-five years. Thus do the accusers expect the charge to have the same power that it has had over that time period. It’s the Tar Baby of tar babies, ironically enough, and woe to the white human being who is unfortunate enough to be stuck to it.

But what happens when this weapon is used too much? What happens when every single criticism of the first ever POTUS of African descent is chalked up to racism and the criticism is never adequately addressed or even addressed at all?

People start ignoring the epithet, begin to lose the fear of being smeared and continue to stand against an administration who seeks to change this country for the worse.

If it’s racist to protest when a thief has his hand in your pocket, then count me in. And, new visitors, before you link or comment on the last statement and make a fool of yourselves, read my About page.

[T]he war on sexual differences goes much deeper than sex, all the way down to ontology. Thus, it is an attack on being, on our most primordial cosmic signposts.

One of the benefits of respect for sexual differences is that it opens up the possibility of cultural spheres that are free of sexual tension. But the left is well on the way to destroying all such sex-free zones.

Consider how quickly we went from homosexuals in the military to the federal government now forcing high school girls to shower with boys who think they're girls. In the name of the Constitution!

So now, the violence of the state is being used to deny the basic reality of sexual differences. Or in other words, diabolical Power is shamelessly tearing truth from our midst by the root.

Gaghdad Bob's blog (above) is one of the minority of blogs I read where the comments are as interesting as the blog posts.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

All of you who are for the seeding of Syrian refugees into the United States, including you, Mr. President, are morally better than I am. And I accept the shame that you keep trying to heap upon those of us who have been against President Obama's generous example of Americanism. I am ashamed of myself.

Non-Christians (Christians, too), if you want to use it for reference, try reading it first. Ask questions. Google and Bing are your friends. So is Strong's Concordance. The Bible won't bite you and you won't burst into flames when you touch it. You can even read it online.

“They’re the makings of a shrine to big business that has man-cavers nostalgic for a time when they were happy . . . guys should get over the feudalistic idea of a man cave allowing them to be the ‘lord of their manor’ in a room they can call their own,” Ruidas explains in her piece, which is titled “Man Caves Perpetuate Patriarchy.”

“There’s something different about what happened (Friday) from Hebdo,” he says on the tape, “and I think everybody would feel that. There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not legitimacy — but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and, ‘OK, they’re really angry because of this or that.’ ”

Parse it however you want, moonbats. One of your heroes is basically saying that the editors had it coming to them, for exercising their right to free speech.

Secretary Kerry has had a lot of similar incidents, something that made political blogging in 2004 so much fun.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE:The goal is $1500 in sales and donations by November 30. As of today at 5:30 AM PT, there have been no sales and no donations.

POST: I know, I know. People hate open threads. I hate open threads. But even though I've recommitted myself to blogging everyday, there are going to be some time periods during which I will not be online and this morning is one of them.

Invariably, something really crazy drops off when I'm not on the Internet and I return feeling a mixture of excitement and dread.

Lately, however, it has been dread alone. But I'm trusting in God.

Please contribute to Juliette’s Projects: Kenya Trip, A Roof Over My Head, my Storage Facility, my new novel, this blog, and my Internet--to keep them going and to the COFFEE fund to keep me going!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Hello, you go to a top twenty school [Vanderbilt University]. Do PC bros not do grammar now? But more importantly, “As many of us sit in grief..” Oh give me a f*cking break. It was a bag of poop left on the stairs outside. This left you grief stricken?

The post went viral with all the liberal media — PC BRO RACISM ALERT, THERE’S POOP ON CAMPUS STEPS — and an investigation into the bag of poop ensued.

Yep, an investigation by Vandy police. (To be fair, this is the most important investigation the Vandy police have been involved in investigating by themselves since a Kappa Delta sorority girl left her hazards on too long unloading Nordstrom bags outside the sorority house).

Who was the horrible racist who left dog poop on campus steps?

Well, it turns out that it was a blind female student whose seeing eye dog pooped on campus and she couldn’t find a trash can.

I'm posting this only because I've been looking for a reason to post the following strip.

POST: Someone just told me that the M&M analogy contains two logical fallacies: Appeal to Emotion and the Fallacy of Composition. For those who haven't heard it yet, here's an off-the-top-of-my-head version of the M&M analogy.

Imagine a bowl of M&Ms. 10% of them are poisoned, but you have no way of knowing which are and which are not. Do you eat them?

Now, imagine that 90% of the Syrian Refugees are not terrorists, but 10% are and you have no way of determining who is and who isn't. Do you let them in the country?

I don't see anything the least bit emotionally evocative--maybe it's me, but I don't have to feel any sort of emotion to play the odds; to notice that one plus one equals two, to form an opinion about it and to respond accordingly. YMMV.

The fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole (or even of every proper part)

In the analogy, it is not implied, but explicitly stated for both groups that the something in question is not true of 90% the rest of each group, so the Fallacy of Composition is out.What IS implied is that if the observer had a way of separating the 90% from the 10%, he/she would accept the majority and exclude the minority. But he/she CANNOT do so, so it's logical to reject the whole group.
Action or inaction supporting continuous breathing is logical, Spock.

These implications contain the lesson that many, many people fail to receive--to infer--from the analogy, including, IMO, the person who tried to apply the logical fallacies. Any inference otherwise is in the mind of the observer. My personal name for this: failed mind-reading.

I did. But anyone who half-way paid attention in their high school American History class could see this coming.

A top Tennessee Republican lawmaker believes the time has come for the National Guard to round up any Syrian refugees who have recently settled in the state and to stop any additional Syrian refugees from entering Tennessee.

"We need to activate the Tennessee National Guard and stop them from coming in to the state by whatever means we can," said House GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, referencing refugees.

It's what he's been counting on, folks. His puppeteers, as well. Not saying that it's wrong to do; saying that it's what they wanted...by this means or any means necessary.

At his departing press conference at the G20 yesterday, Obama made the bold declaration that he’s “not interested in . . . posing or pursuing some notion of ‘American leadership’ or ‘America winning.'"

Anyone who still thinks that this president has the country's best interest at heart is delusional.

Earlier today, I read as someone asked how it is that black pastors still support President Obama--noted supporter of abortion, same-sex "marriage," and various other things which are considered sinful under Christian doctrine. My response: "These pastors love their race/skin color more than they love Christ."

And many white supporters of Barack Obama are similarly blinded. Barack Obama love is a lazy method of absolving themselves of white guilt. And it is a sneakier form of racial pride than pointed to in the previous paragraph. These white supporters can still point to that support whenever black persons wield the racism club. (I don't think it will exempt them from the Knock-Out Game, though.)

They love their imagined absolution more that they love freedom.

But what about the rest of us? What will we do as this president keeps pushing, and pushing, and pushing to kill the Great Satan?

UPDATE (12/15/15): I've changed the goal date to December 31st.UPDATE (12/1/15): Because November 30th has come and gone, I've changed the goal date to December 15th.UPDATE: Whenever I have fundraisers, I always forget to set a goal. Not this time. The goal is $1500 in sales and donations by November 30th. And I will keep readers informed with each post.

As of today at 3:44 PM PT, there have been no sales and no donations.

ORIGINAL: My novel sales and this blog have become my sole sources of income. Tale of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game would make a reasonably priced Christmas gift, which I will autograph if you buy it at my book website. This means that the book will come directly from me.

If you buy it through Amazon, I cannot autograph it and I only get the paperback proceeds when I prod my publisher. (I get the Kindle proceeds when the earnings reach a certain level.)

Because of the generosity of friends, I have been able to do many of the things I want and I, therefore, have the responsibility (and pleasure) to keep on writing--here, at Da Tech Guy, at Faith.Family.Freedom, and to finish my promised new novel. It was called Arlen's Harem, but I am re-working it.

Keep me working and re-working...Thanks.

Please contribute to Juliette’s Projects: Kenya Trip, A Roof Over My Head, my Storage Facility, my new novel, this blog, and my Internet--to keep them going and to the COFFEE fund to keep me going!